Conference theme and objectives

The purpose of the conference is to discuss an alternative perspective for management that makes sense of the complex and dynamic reality of business and societal phenomena. This perspective is proposed to escape the positivistic, paradigmatic view of science by drawing on the ontological assumption that management is, above all, a matter of value co-creation that takes place in a multiple, constructed, and socially embedded reality.

In order to grasp the emerging complexity, recent studies on markets, consumer behaviors, strategy and business organizations have gained momentum in social sciences and exhorts business and economics studies to move beyond the myopia of the neoclassical view of reality as objectively given and fully knowable.

There is a call for management theories and practices based on a research approach where social practices – the ordering of human activity across space and time – make the world continuously constructed and reconstructed by individuals and groups in interaction with non-humans (physical environment, objects) to (co-)create mutual value.

In this sense, new conceptualizations can lead researchers, managers, decision makers, practitioners and students to a deeper understanding of management in today’s ever-changing societal and business context.

Theoretical contributions, empirical analyses, experiences and reflections developed from the perspective of management studies and aimed at analyzing patterns to co-create value constitute the main focus of the conference.